Category: Homelessness & Poverty
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Dr. Lipi Roy Works to Serve Boston’s Most Overlooked Citizens
A decade ago, Lipi Roy was a second-year medical student at Tulane University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina breached the levees, flooding the city and changing millions of lives. For Roy, it changed the way she looked at her work as a physician. “That’s when I got a sense of what it means to…
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Homeless Advocates Express Disappointment over Senate State Budget
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts Homelessness service providers across the Commonwealth are concerned they could face a tough year ahead, as the state budget proposal cuts nearly $800,000 from funds for the assistance of homeless individuals. On Tuesday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2017. The committee allocated about $44…
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MHSA Honors Jerry Ray at 13th Annual Fundraising Event
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, or MHSA, held their 13th Annual Fundraising Event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Boston on Thursday, May 12, 2016. MHSA is a non-profit organization, founded in 1988, dedicated to ending homelessness in Massachusetts. The William Lloyd Garrison Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jerry Ray, the former Vice…
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Mayor Walsh Announces New Funding for Homelessness Services
Photo: Zengzhang Wang As part of his goal to end chronic homelessness in Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh pledged $1.3 million in his proposed budget for next year to fund homelessness services. The proposal includes $150,000 for “front-door triage,” which will allow staff at shelters around the city to find the best way to help…
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How Boston is trying to combat the effects of hunger
Those in poverty face many challenges, but one of the most devastating challenges is hunger. Although Massachusetts does its part by enforcing a minimum wage that’s almost $3 higher than the federal minimum wage, the reality is that the benefit of those increased earnings are diminished rather quickly by the high rents in the Boston…
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Food For Free redistributes Harvard’s extra meals
Undergraduate students at Harvard University get to choose from a wide array of sushi, sandwiches, pizza, and more from fourteen different dining halls. With over 6,500 undergraduates eating three meals a day, Harvard goes through a lot of food, some of which inevitably isn’t eaten. “Our goal is to have the same choices at the…
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Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of the Homeless
I had the wonderful opportunity to see a screening of the documentary “Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness” at Cambridge City Hall. The evening was made possible by Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, who brought together an audience of local social services providers who work day-in and day-out on issues touching the homeless of Cambridge.…
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Poverty Greatest Contributor to Youth Homelessness, Report Finds
Photo: Alena Kuzub Finding a direct link between youth homelessness and poverty was the conclusion of a study conducted by Paula Braitstein for JAMA Pediatrics. Braitstein is an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She analyzed the self-reported reasons youth had for living on the streets in developed…
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Helping Hands: South Shore Advocacy Group Provides Food and Clothing to Boston’s Homeless
On the Boston Common, 85 homeless people recently received food and clothes thanks to a homeless advocacy group from the South Shore. The Hingham-based community group Community Offering Practical Encouragement, or C.O.P.E, held its second annual family day to help the homeless of Greater Boston while they endured a cold and rainy April weekend. From…
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Third annual homeless youth count begins across Massachusetts
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts The third annual homeless youth count begins Monday, which will see service providers and government agencies across the Commonwealth coordinating efforts to get an accurate reading on an often misunderstood population. “There are at this point minimal resources focused on youth homelessness,” says Kelly Turley of Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, who…